Lock for telephones



(No Model.)

R. H'. ALLEN. LOOK FOR TELEPHONES.

No. 601,786. 8 Patented Apr. 8,1888.

PATENT OFFI E.

RALPH II.-ALLEN, FITQHBllRG, MASSACHUSETTS.

LOCK FOR TELEIPHONES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 601,786, dated April 5, 1898.

Application filed September 3,1897. Serial No. 650,428. (No ma.)

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, RALPH HENRY ALLEN, of Fitchburg, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Preventing the Unauthorized Use of Telephones, of which the following is a descrip tion sufficiently full, clear, andexact to enable those skilled in the art to which itap per tains or with which it is most nearly connected to make and use the same.

It is the object ofmy invention to provide a device which can be readily secured in place and adjusted with respect to a telephone so that it may operate to keep unauthorized persons from using the telephone and to have the device at the same time be of such a nature that it may be most conveniently and easily manipulated by the subscriber or other person having authority to use the instrument.

Under the present rules usually adopted by telephone-exchanges instruments are leased on the limited-call plan, and it is difficult for the subscriber to control the callsma de on his telephone so that none shall be without authority. It is to obviate this difficulty that is the purpose of my invention.

To this end, therefore, the invention consists of an independent base and bracket adapted to be secured in position in close proximity to the bell-box of a telephone" and an arm hinged or pivoted to the bracket,which arm is so constructed as to engage the bellcrank and be locked in that position, so that when the said arm is so secured it will hold the crank of the bell-ringing device against operation to call up ,central or any other telephone number in the circuit.

The invention also consists of other improvements incidental to the foregoing, all as I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Reference is to be had to the annexed drawings, and to the letters marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation showing my invention as applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a front view of myinvention detached, but showing the device in unlocked position, it being represented in Fig. 1 as in locked position. .Fig. 3 is aside view of the device (on the scale shown in Fig. 2) in locked position and looking at it from left to right. In the drawings,,a is the transmitter. bis the receiver.. 0 is the call or bell box, and d is the arm of the crank for ringing up a call or number. general parts of a telephone. The forms of some of the said parts vary, as does also the arrangement of some with respect to others; but what is thus far described will answer to explain the construction and mode'ofoperation of my invention.

ve designates a base-plate adapted to be The foregoing are the usual screwed to the telephone-casing or to-the walls upon one of its faces with a small lock 2', anda'hole is formed through the web of the plate, so that a key may be inserted in the look from the opposite side, as indicated at j in Fig. 3.

It designates an extension of the swell f, so as'to make it form a substantial arm to the base-plate, and the said arm is recessed in its under face or side, as indicated by. dotted lines 1 in Fig. 3, so that when the arm is moved to closed position the bolt m of the lock may enter said recess and be securely locked in place. Thelower face of the arm 70 is beveled slightly, as shown in Figs. 1 and'2, opposite the points at which the recess Z is formed therein, so that the arm may be closed and the bolt of the lock be snapped into place without the use of the key; but the construction is of such a character that it is necessary to employ a key inserted into the slot j in order to unlock and operate the arm g.

It will now be seen that when the parts are arranged as-shown in Fig. land the arm g is swung into locked position the countersunk hole formed in the lower outer end of the arm will engage the end of the crank d and hold it in locked position, so that a call cannot be rung up on the telephone; but when it is desired to use the telephone a key inserted in the slot j of the lock will operate the latter to draw down the bolt m and allow the arm 9 to be swung to one side, as shown in Fig. 2 and in dotted-line position Fig. 1. Then the crank of the call-box 0 may be operated with entire freedom.

It is obvious, of course, that the form of the several parts comprising my invention may be changed to suit the circumstances of the case without departing from the nature or spirit of my invention, which is the provision of an independent lock to the call-arm or crank of the telephone, which look may be operated by a key to release the locked arm and allow the instrument to be used.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a Way of constructing and using the same, though without attemptin g to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, it is declared that what is claimed is- 1. A means for preventing unauthorized use of a telephone, consisting of a base-plate and bracket, adapted to be secured in proximity to the call means of the instrument, and a swinging arm supported by the base-plate or bracket and adapted to engage the call means and to belocked in engaged position and to be unlocked with a key.

locked to the stationary arm when so engaged and to be unlocked by a key and disengaged from said crank-arm.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a baseplate bracket provided with the recessed arm 7a, the swinging locking-arm g provided on its end with means to engage the crank-arm of the call or bell box of a telephone, and a lock carried by the swinging arm, adapted to be operated. by a key, the bolt of which lock is adapted to engage the recess of the arm is.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 28th day of August, A. D. 1897. 1

RALPII H, ALLEN.

Witnesses STILLMAN HAYNES, WILLIAM K. HAYNES. 

